Southwark Planning...

I'm not disagreeing Jules, it's just that the failure to deliver housing is the responsibility of the housing department. Planning can only agree if schemes are brought before them. There is a slightly more complex relationship with regen, planning and housing, as regen/planning should try to identify sites, propose this to housing who develop the scheme, which would be agreed by planning. I'm not trying to defend Planning though, I'm simply being a pedant!

Let me be a pedant too: Peter John leads the council, and is ultimately responsible for the performance of all its departments.

Peter promised to build new houses, and this isn't happening at a speed that would realistically fulfill his promise within the stated time period: the buck stops with him.

It would be like the Prime Minister promising to put a Briton on Mars by 2025, and then blaming various government departments when it becomes clear it isn't going to happen.